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- Arne Styve
- Hallvard Trætteberg
- Michael Tollefsen
- Rune Hjelsvold
- Simon McCallum
Classes of activities/tools
Code
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management (including version control)
A code repository provides the possibility to share code, create versions (time- and tag-based) and branches (topic-based). There are typically two levels of organisation: repositories and and organisation (often called group or project). The The repository is is where the code is stored, and any user will typically be able to create new repositories and grant other uses access. An An organisation may may be defined as the owner of several repositories, so they can be more easily managed by the organisation. E.g. a a course (emne) may the organisation which manages repositories, one for each each student project group group.
Examples are git and mercurial (core systems), github (cloud provider), gitlab (software and cloud provider), Stash/Bitbucket from Atlassian (software and cloud provider), ...
Issue tracking
Issues are a way of managing development tasks based on requirements spanning from feature requests to bug reports. Issues can be entered by both developers, e.g. as a feature to develop in a sprint, or users, e.g . as feature requests or bug reports. Issues typically go through phases and may are assigned to people. Branches and commits often refer to issues.
Systems for issue tracking may be both integrated and standalone. Examples are github and gitlab (integrated), Jira from Atlasssian (standalone, but integrated with other Atlassian products), bugzilla (standalone), ...
Continuous integration (CI)
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Examples of systems are Jenkins and Hudson (standalone), Travis (cloud provider), gitlab (integrated), Bamboo from Atlassian (software and cloud provider), ...
Issue tracking
Issues are a way of managing development tasks based on requirements spanning from feature requests to bug reports. Issues can be entered by both developers, e.g. as a feature to develop in a sprint, or users, e.g. as feature requests or bug reports. Issues typically go through phases and may are assigned to people. Branches and commits often refer to issues.
Systems for issue tracking may be both integrated and standalone. Examples are github and gitlab (integrated), Jira from Atlasssian (standalone, but integrated with other Atlassian products), bugzilla (standalone), ...
Code review
When providing code for an issue, you often want to review it before allowing the code to be committed into and merged with the code repository. This is particularly relevant when code is contributed from outsiders, like in open source projects, but also relevant in more closed settings, to ensure quality. Sometimes you also want to run CI on the code, before doing the review and stamp of approval.
Examples of systems are git (supports so-called pull requests where a branch in a fork is contributed to the main project), gerrit (hosts a copy of a repo and can run CI on it before changes are merged into the main repo).
Maturity levels
If we want to introduce these activities in a curriculum in a study program, we should consider a staged approach, were activities and tools are introduced gradually. Based on proficiency levels (https://hr.od.nih.gov/workingatnih/competencies/proficiencyscale.htm: Fundamental Awareness, Novice (limited experience), Intermediate (practical application), Advanced (applied theory), Expert (recognized authority)). For a bachelor program, we may expect students to reach a Intermediate level in some activities, and Novice in others, while a master program may lift the bar depending on the specialisation.
Level 0:
- Fundamental Awareness of Code management, like fetching code samples and other material from a code repository prepared by others.
- Fundamental Awareness of Continuous Integration, by running pre-made tests on their code.
Level 1:
- Novice in Code management, share code within a group by setting up a repository and using basic commands for committing, pushing and pulling.